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John Edwards and Norm Coleman. Former U.S. senators? Check, and check. Current federal investigations? Check, and check (and check). Questionable billings of $100,000 or so? Check, and check. Issue of whether campaign funds went for personal expenses? Check, and check. Wife in headlines too? Check, and check.
But the parallels aren’t perfect.
Edwards is himself under investigation by U.S. Attorney George Holding’s office in Charlotte, N.C., and a federal grand jury may be empaneled.
Coleman hasn’t been publicly implicated by an FBI probe into allegations made in a Texas civil suit that a campaign donor secretly funneled him money.
But if worse comes to worse, both Edwards and Coleman have the same “Get Out of Jail Free” card up their sleeves. National Public Radio has reported that one reason Holding’s boss, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, let Ted Stevens go free was the Alaskan’s status as a former U.S. senator.
And speaking of offices they’re not in, Edwards is doubly lucky not to be president.
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3 Comments »
Comment posted May 5, 2009 @ 4:18 pm
You have said, “One reason Attorney General Eric Holder says he’s dropping charges against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is that Stevens is no longer a senator.”
Where exactly did Holder say that?
Comment posted May 5, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
Hi Ralph, thanks for the comment. Following the link back to my earlier post on Holder dropping charges against Stevens, I see the main source was a NPR report. Online, NPR provides Holder’s full statement. The closest Holder actually comes in that statement is this: “…in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.”
In her report, Nina Totenberg clarifies what that means (though she doesn’t cite a source):
I changed the attribution in this post to NPR’s report rather than Holder’s own words. Thanks again for pointing that out.
Comment posted May 5, 2009 @ 6:59 pm
Thanks, Chris. I tried to follow the links back but I didn’t find that one.
Frankly, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that Holder said that being an ex-Senator is a “get out of jail free” card, especially because the overwhelming “circumstance” of the case was the egregious prosecutorial misconduct.
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